The Shoe's on the Other Foot
by Random Flyer
Summary: Life Goals Series Part 3. Keeping your civilian identity a secret was super hero basics 101. Billy Batson knew that and yet here he stood, secret identity compromised by one teenager too stupid to run from a flying robot with a mohawk. please R&R


**A/N: I got the idea for this after seeing the movie Shazam! (It's a fun movie by the way and I definitely recommend it if you haven't seen it yet.) As a result, Billy's characterization in this, particularly his age, is something of a combination of the movie and the Young Justice cartoon. Hope you enjoy!**

**The Shoe's on the Other Foot**

Billy Batson had mixed feelings about school trips. They had their upsides, like getting out of class, but they also had their downsides like riding on the bus for hours or even days on end. It was also a lot more fun to travel when everyone thought you were an adult and left you to your own devices.

Still, traveling with the football team to play some of the farther reaching towns was fun, mostly. The most recent town was weird at least. Billy had never been to a ghost town before, especially one that was still inhabited. Though, it seemed more like a tourist trap with all of the ghost-themed attractions than the site of an actual haunting. Weren't ghosts supposed to hang around abandoned places? Still, it could be fun to explore if they got the chance after the game.

Amity Park's Casper High's football team was better than anyone thought they would be. Billy wasn't actually on the football team for his own school, he only came because one of the support players was injured and the coach was desperate enough to ask anyone and everyone to fill the needed spot. Billy just happened to be free this weekend. So he sat on the bench and watched kids bigger than him tackle one another into the ground. The Casper players were quicker and more agile. It was like they got twice as much practice running and dodging than the players from Billy's school. It had coach baffled and annoyed.

"Their plays aren't even that good," Coach grumbled under his breath, twisting a piece of paper in his hands. "They just move fast enough to get away with it. What do they do, agility drills all day?"

Billy really didn't want to draw attention to himself and risk that coach might actually send him out to the field so he kept his mouth closed and watched the game.

A little after halftime, they found out why the Casper kids were so quick on their feet.

The thing appeared out of nowhere above the field. For a moment, Billy just stared at the robot with a green, flaming mohawk floating over the field, confused along with the rest of his classmates. The Casper kids didn't even break stride. They just ran. The ones already running in the game swerved for cover, the ones standing on the sidelines bolted away from the floating thing, and the ones in the stands abandoned the bleachers like sailors jumping from a sinking ship. Within seconds, the residents of Amity were clear of the field, gaining distance with each passing moment, and Billy was wondering why he wasn't running as well.

"Whelp!" the robot roared and fired a missile at a tree where the Amity mascot ran behind just moments ago.

That got Billy and his classmates running. The coach took off screaming about how now he understood why everyone else insisted Casper's teams traveled to them. The players and few parents that travelled with the team scattered following the Casper kids. Billy dodged for the bleachers. With everyone running away he could do his transformation out of sight between the bleachers and saved the day without a hitch.

Billy made it to the bleachers as the last screams were fading behind buildings. "Shazam!" he yelled. The transformation came over him in a flash and Billy spun to confront the robot.

"Oh, you gotta be kidding me!" a voice behind Billy froze him in his tracks.

Billy turned back, slow as if that would keep him from being noticed. Apparently, the bleachers weren't as deserted as he thought they were. "Uh…" Billy started, staring wide-eyed at the black-haired teen sporting a white tee-shirt with red emblem. "What did you just see?" Billy asked, hoping against hope that this random kid hadn't just watched him transform. Not letting people know about his secret identity was superhero basics 101.

"I saw a kid turn into Shazam, while yelling Shazam," the boy said. The worse part was he didn't even have the decency to look impressed or surprised. The boy just looked annoyed. "Sam's right, yelling a catch phrase is a bad idea," he muttered.

"This isn't what it looks like!" Billy said, now panicking more about a regular teenager than a flying robot with missiles.

"If it's that the superhero and Justice League member, Shazam, is actually a kid, then it's exactly what it looks like." The boy cocked his head and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Ok, so maybe it is what it looks like," Billy muttered. He held up two hands, hoping to calm this situation. Above, he could hear the robot yelling "Whelp! Show yourself!" but the screams and explosions were gone, so hopefully Billy had time to diffuse the crisis in front of him. "Look, you know about superheroes, right? You can understand the importance of a secret identity."

The boy blinked at him. A sly grin spread over the kid's face wiping out the annoyance. "Yeah, that's like superhero basics 101."

The grin was disconcerting, but at least they were talking instead of the kid running off to tell everyone and everything what he'd seen. "Yeah, so you can understand how important it is for no one to know…something like this."

The kid's sly, knowing grin shifted to smug. "Shoe's on the other foot now," he muttered. Billy almost missed it, but the boy spoke up louder before Billy could react. "You mean how important it is for the rest of the Justice League not to find out that you're really a kid pretending to be an adult."

Billy tried not to wince. "They…know…about my age, I mean."

The boy's eyes narrowed. "Sure they do."

Billy grimaced.

"How 'bout this," the kid said. "I'll keep quiet about the whole…" he waved at Billy, "thing, if you stay out of this fight and keep quiet about this entire incident. You don't tell anybody about the ghosts, especially not the Justice League."

Billy frowned, glancing up at the metal seating over his head where the robot was still shouting. Another explosion rocked through the field. Both boys winced.

"This kinda seems like something the Justice League should be taking care of," Billy frowned.

"Let me rephrase," The boy said taking a step closer. "You keep your mouth shut, or I spill the beans about your secret."

Billy straightened, eyes narrowing. "This sounds like blackmail…You're bluffing."

The boy winced. It was barely more than a twitch but it was definitely there. "The real question is: can you risk it if I'm not?"

Billy glared. He was pretty sure the kid was bluffing but he really didn't want to risk the Justice League finding out about his age. His spine straightened even more, head nearly bumping against the stairs as a horrible thought struck him. "Are you _working_ with that thing?"

The kid sputtered, "No! We have our own hero! He'll be here any minute. And we don't need outsiders butting into our business." He shook his head. "Look, blackmail's an ugly word, and we're both benefiting from it so it's not blackmail. It's a deal."

Billy glared, unconvinced. "How are _you_ benefiting from it?"

"I'm a fan of the local hero," the boy said with a shrug, "And I'd like him to be able to do his own thing without the Justice League shutting him down because he's a minor or something. You know how they are about anyone under-aged fighting crime on their own."

Billy thought back to the whole thing with the sidekicks and how many of the adult members thought teenagers were too young to fight crime despite the fact that some of those teens had more experience than some full grown adult heroes. Even giving the teens a small, specialized unit of their own with limited missions was controversial among some members of the League. "Yeah, I know exactly how they are."

"So it seems to me that it's in everybody's interest to keep this whole thing quiet." The boy cocked his head, waiting for an answer.

The local hero must be a teen, too. So this was blackmail, but for another person so they could keep being a hero. Which didn't make blackmail right, per say, but at least made it…less bad? More understandable? "Ok…" Billy said, still hesitant, "How 'bout this, your guy shows up in the next two minutes and defeats the Mohawk Robot without anyone getting hurt and I'll keep my mouth shut if you keep your mouth shut."

The kid grinned. "Sounds like a deal to me! He'll probably be coming from that direction." He pointed out toward the sky.

Billy turned and stepped to see the sky, excited despite himself at possibly seeing a new superhero, especially another kid getting into heroics. After a minute or two passed and no one showed, Billy turned to complain to the kid, only he was gone.

"Hey Skulker!" a voice called from the exact direction the kid said the hero would appear.

Billy whirled around and found a white-haired teen floating above the football field. A wide grin split across Billy's face. As much as he loved being a superhero, he also loved watching other superheroes in action. Even after being in the League and fighting bad guys on his own, watching other heroes never got old and sometimes it gave Billy new ideas for his own heroics.

"Whelp!" the robot, now identified as Skulker, yelled, "I hope you've enjoyed your reprieve from our last fight, because tonight your pelt will rest on my wall!"

"Ew," Billy muttered. This guy seriously wanted to skin that kid?

"That will never not be gross, Skulker," the boy called back, echoing Billy's own reaction. The boy had to dodge a moment later as a missile flew past him and the fight started.

As far as aerial battles went, there were some things that were always the same. The dodging and weaving were familiar, even if every flying superhero had their own specific style. This aerial fight took on another level since apparently both combatants could turn invisible and go through solid objects. Billy could tell almost as soon as the fight started that the local hero had dealt with this robot before now. If the fight itself didn't tip Billy off, the constant stream of witty banter did. Once he realized that, he could enjoy the fight to its fullest extent, watching from his hidden position by the bleachers.

As the battle progressed, Billy realized it was only a matter of time before the white haired teen finally caught Skulker off guard. The robot's focus narrowed on the boy the angrier he became and the boy knew how to taunt his opponent for maximum efficiency. Becoming too focused on one object in a fight meant you didn't notice the threats coming from the side or behind. Billy was willing to bet Amity's hero knew how to use that to his advantage.

Knowing the outcome of the battle was almost assured, Billy prepared to shift back to his normal self but paused as an idea struck him. Just because he agreed not to stick his nose in the fight as Captain Marvel didn't mean he couldn't help a little. It was just a matter of being in the right spot at the right moment. The two figures dodged and weaved overhead. Their pattern was irregular as all good dog-fighters should be, but Billy had enough experience he thought he would be able to time it just right.

The boy passed overhead curving around Billy's hiding spot under the bleacher overhang. Skulker followed close behind in a tighter turn to close the distance as he prepared another missile. His course would take him directly over Billy in 3…2…

"Shazam!" Billy said, not nearly as loudly as he usually did when going into battle.

Lightning crackled down from above, changing Captain Marvel back into average Billy Batson and striking Skulker on its way. The robot spun out of control having no time to turn intangible and avoid the strike. The white haired boy whipped around and blinked at the scene before swooping in and catching Skulker in some kind of energy field that sucked the robot into a thermos of all things. He looked up and caught Billy's gaze.

For a moment, neither boy moved. Billy couldn't decide if he hoped the other boy had seen what he'd just done or not. One kid had already discovered his secret today and that was one too many, but a fellow hero with just as much to hide to share a secret with…that could be nice. Besides, if the other boy got ideas, Billy could always blackmail him, too.

The silent moment shattered as someone from the other side of the field called "Phantom! It's Phantom!"

The white-haired boy glanced over at a group of Casper High football players hurrying toward him. He looked back at Billy grinned, waved, and vanished. Billy grinned and waved back at the empty space. There was no way to tell if the boy was really gone or not, after all.

"Wait! Phantom! Come back I want an autograph!" Billy recognized the first player to get close as the blond quarterback. The boy huffed when nothing happened, then caught sight of Billy. "Isn't he awesome! Just look at how he took that ghost out!"

Billy opened his mouth, then closed it, bit his tongue and grinned. "Yeah, that was pretty awesome." Yelling started up back by the parking lot.

"I think your coach is calling for you." The quarterback hitched a finger over his shoulder. "He's probably getting ready to leave. Better hurry unless you want to get left behind."

Billy waved a dismissive hand. "He wouldn't leave one of his own kids here."

The quarterback snorted, with just a hint of derision. "There's been coaches that left entire teams here, they ran so fast, like they'd seen a ghost. Guess it'll just be away games for the rest of the year for us."

"Right," Billy said, "thanks." He jogged back toward the parking lot where their team bus sat, half the team already loaded on and the coach yelling for the rest to hurry up.

"We're getting out of here," Coach grumbled as he waved the rest of their scattered team to hurry. "This place is crazy. If they want a rematch they can come to us."

Mutters of agreement rose from other members of the team as Billy sank down in his own seat by a window. He could see the Casper High students picking up equipment and personal items abandoned in the mad dash to safety, unbothered by the game's interruption as if such events were normal. Considering the amount of tourist attractions centered on ghosts Billy had seen on the drive into town, it probably was normal for them. Tourists with cameras followed shortly after the students. Billy could see them combing the field, taking pictures, talking with the players and spectators. From the way some of the Casper students waved them off with sharp gestures and raised voices, this was all too familiar. No fear, no panic, no excitement at something out of the ordinary, just the daily exasperation from dealing with a common annoyance.

"Guess Phantom does have it under control," Billy muttered, "…mostly." He smiled to himself and settled into a comfortable position for the long bus ride. No sense mucking up a system that already works. Besides, knowing something that the other League members didn't, especially the all-knowing Batman, was kind of nice.

Later that night, in the Batcave, Bruce glanced over as another alert for his ongoing search for information about Danny Phantom popped up on his computer. The alert linked back to a post on a ghost hunting websites concerning an attack on the Casper High football team. He glanced over the post and comments. It was nothing out of the ordinary for the town, though, good for establishing baselines, but not urgent. He filed the information away with the rest of the information and turned back to his latest research project. He had time to figure out how to handle the Phantom situation, and handle it he would. These hints of a new caper by Poison Ivy needed his attention now.

**::The End::**

A/N: I've had this mostly done for a while, but have only recently come to terms with the fact that it will never be as perfect as I wanted it to be. But then I remembered that this series is purely for the fun and humor of it and it doesn't have to be absolutely perfect. Thanks for reading!


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